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VI. International Symposium on AMD – Age-Related Macular Degeneration – Emerging Concepts – Exploring known and Identifying new Pathways

11. - 12.09.2015, Baden-Baden

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Composition of sub-RPE material

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  • Glen Jeffery - London

VI. International Symposium on AMD – Age-Related Macular Degeneration – Emerging Concepts – Exploring known and Identifying new Pathways. Baden-Baden, 11.-12.09.2015. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2015. Doc15amd17

doi: 10.3205/15amd17, urn:nbn:de:0183-15amd179

Published: October 1, 2015

© 2015 Jeffery.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

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Ageing and many diseases are associated with mitochondrial decline and a fall in ATP production. This runs hand in hand with development of chronic inflammation. The retina is particularly susceptible to this as it has the greatest energy demand in the body. Some features of macular degeneration are found in mice that are complement factor H knock outs (CFH-/-), as complement polymorphisms are found in around 50% of AMD patients. We show that these mice suffer from premature ATP decline that is specific to the retina and occurs at 4 months, long before they develop a retinal phenotype at around 12 months. However, this can be partly corrected by exposure to near infrared light that is known to improve mitochondrial membrane potentials and increase ATP production. These data indicate that there may be an early mitochondrial basis to AMD.